A showcase of applied, data-driven solutions within the ISEAL Community

This Guidance supports sustainability systems to design and implement good practice greenhouse gas emissions accounting, reporting and disclosure strategies for users of their schemes. This approach affords several opportunities for the ISEAL community. The intended users of this Guidance are ISEAL member schemes that are involved in the certification of commodities. The guidance may also be of interest to their communities (certificate holders, applicants, assurance providers, oversight bodies, buyers, governments, civil society and the public).

The only way to solve the sustainability challenges that we face today – from deforestation to biodiversity loss to inequality and poverty – is through greater collaboration, collective action, and innovation. We believe that sustainability systems are an important part of this solution by driving the sustainable transformation of complex commodity sectors and global supply chains. But to remain effective and add value, sustainability systems need to constantly push boundaries.

Bonsucro and Responsible Jewellery Council engaged Business & Human Rights consultancy twentyfifty to conduct a research project into Grievance Mechanisms within Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS). The research investigated how grievance mechanisms have been set up and how grievances are managed and remediated within their memberships.

Tackling gender inequalities is becoming increasingly important for voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) and similar systems to address. Sustainability systems are looking to integrate gender into their standards and the management of their organisations. Sustainability systems that are not gender-responsive can result in unnecessary health and safety risks for women and girls, and lead to unequal impacts and unintended consequences.

This guidance document provides guidance for sustainability systems looking to collect or improve the collection of polygon location data. It was developed with the support of experts and ISEAL members with advanced experience, and includes a variety of different options and technologies.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the ability of many sustainability systems to perform on-site audits. Many have had to implement new policies and adapt to new ways of working. In many ways, this forced many sustainability systems to rapidly innovate during the pandemic, by embracing novel technologies and piloting new approaches to assess sites remotely.  

Guidelines, which have been prepared to serve as the basis for discussion on standardized procedures and protocols for the collection and management of certificate location data with the goal that these data will eventually become part of an ISEAL member Certification Atlas (CA).

Bonsucro and Responsible Jewellery Council engaged Business & Human Rights consultancy twentyfifty Ltd to conduct a research project on learning and good practice from the experience of ISEAL Community Members in implementing Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). This briefing note is intended to give a summary of the key findings from this.

This document provides an introduction to the Impact Alliance: Making Impact Happen project, followed by: Background on commodities and the need for impact incentives Outreach and promotional material Surveys, interviews and engagement Insights from surveys, interviews and engagement Translating interest into pilots

This guidance equips sustainability standards with practical tips on how they can make their impact claims more meaningful and effective with confidence and accuracy.

Download the notes from the Inclusion & empowerment breakout session at the ISEAL Global Sustainability Symposium 2024.

ISEAL Community Members can claim to be ISEAL Code Compliant only when they have demonstrated adherence to the baseline and improvement criteria of each of ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice in accordance with the processes and definitions in this procedure.

This roadmap is developed to provide a pathway for all members of the IWSN to achieve the vision and mission of the network which has been aligned with the vision and mission of AWS Global Strategy. The roadmap acts as work program of IWSN which is set in 3 years timeline. The roadmap will help to: Provide clear result framework for IWSN Provide SMART milestones for IWSN

This infographic illustrates the research report authored by AidEnvironment and commissioned by ISEAL. The report is a refresher of the 2016 review and synthesis of literature and evidence of the business benefits of adopting sustainability standards. In total 40 credible source research documents, covering seven sectors were reviewed.

Many sustainability systems are testing and implementing different strategies to improve their sustainability performance and to  become more effective in tackling some of the world's most pressing issues. It is becoming clear that there is added value in adopting strategies that address the wider system. These systemic strategies can help organisations have a lasting impact within their context.

In May 2024, ISEAL, in partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), hosted a webinar focused on the integration of voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) into trade policy as a tool to advance sustainability goals. Targeting actors across the trade sector, the webinar zeroed in on free trade agreements (FTAs) and presented our jointly produced research.

Sustainability systems represent and support complex supply chains, with a wide variety of commodities, producers and geographies included. Emissions reporting is a complex and fast-moving space. Thus, these systems and their communities may face challenges keeping pace with developments and developing consistent and appropriate good practices that can benefit their communities and climate security.

With our new strategy, we’re aiming to increase our impact in tackling the biggest sustainability challenges of our time.

This document describes the requirements Accreditation Organisations need to meet to be ISEAL Accreditation Members.

Version 2 of the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Assuring Compliance with Social and Environmental Standards, published February 2018.

An introduction to comparing and benchmarking sustainability standards systems

This file provides a high-level summary of the differences between the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems v1.0, and the ISEAL Impacts, Standard-Setting, and Assurance Codes of Good Practice (v2, v6, and v2, respectively). It also highlights essential practices extracted from the ISEAL Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide.